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Source: Get Religion by Terry Mattingly What can be said about the images that are coming out of Libya, in that hellish Islamic State video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians – explicitly for their faith and their connection to “crusaders”? This is a story with so much religious imagery and language in it that there is no way for journalists to avoid the ghosts. Religion News Service, and some other news outlets, are using a very important quote from Pope Francis: “The blood of our Christian brothers is a witness that cries out,” Francis said in off-the-cuff remarks…

Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America ANAHEIM, Calif. – The 2015 Greek Orthodox Folk Dance and Choral Festival (FDF2015) just concluded another very successful year and its four-day weekend celebration of Faith, Dance and Fellowship. FDF is the largest gathering of Greek-Orthodox young people in the United States and arguably the largest youth festival of traditional Greek dancing in the world. Approximately 2,500 young people took part as dancers, musicians and singers, and more than 3,500 people attended in total, including parents, grandparents and friends. FDF is an institution and long-established tradition in the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco,…

Source: The National Herald By Theodore Kalmoukos Rev. Angelo Artemas, presiding priest at the Annunciation parish in Milwaukee, spoke with TNH about his predecessor, Fr. James Dokos, who has been charged with stealing money from a trust of a former parishioner of his. MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – Rev. Angelo Artemas, presiding priest at the Annunciation parish in Milwaukee, WI broke his silence and in exclusive interview to TNH spoke freely and openly about the situation involving his predecessor, Fr. James Dokos, who has been charged with stealing money from a trust of a former parishioner of his. Dokos, who is charged…

Source: Pravoslavie.ru Athens, February 11, 2015 Aristidis Baltas, the new Greek minister of culture, education and religious affairs, at the meeting of Parliament has formulated the government’s program on relations between the Church and state, reports AgionOros.ru. According to the minister, “It is necessary to separate the Church from the state, but that is a long and difficult process.” A. Baltas has stressed that, “The first steps to separate the Church from the state may be taken in the near future”. Reference from AgionOros.ru: The myth that the Orthodox Church “does not pay taxes and exists on the state budget”…

Source: Orthodox Church in America SOUTH CANAAN, PA [STOTS Communications] Registration is now open for the Academic Symposium honoring the life and work of Metropolitan Leonty, slated to be held at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary here May 14, 2015. The day-long program, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of Metropolitan Leonty’s repose, will feature yet-to-be-published selections from Metropolitan Leonty’s 1917-1918 diary, as read and translated by his granddaughter Matushka Tamara Turkevich-Skvir, together with poems and anecdotes written throughout the life of this champion of the Faith. Other presentations will be offered by Harold M. Leich, Russian Area Specialist European Division, The…

Source: FrontPage Mag by Susan Warner Founded in 1948, The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of 345 Protestant and Orthodox Christian churches in 110 countries. Their aim is “to support the member churches and ecumenical partners to journey together, promoting justice and peace in our world as an expression of faith in the Triune God.” To advance their “justice and peace” initiatives, they collude with Islamic and Palestinian friends in a covert scheme to sabotage Israel. Their web of anti-Zionism extends throughout Europe, the Americas and Africa. While this may seem a bold assertion, it is nonetheless worth examining some undeniable evidence. WCC is among the many coalitions of Christians…

Source: Voices from Russia The website of Novospassky Monastery noted that on 5 February, a Greek Orthodox Church delegation, headed by Metropolitan Panteleimon Kalpakidis of Veria and Naousa arrived in Moscow from Greece bringing a reliquary containing the hand of St Demetrios of Salonika the Great Martyr. At the airport, the superior of the Novospassky Stavropegial Monastery and the MP First Deputy Chancellor, Bishop Savva Mikheyev of Voskresensk met the delegation. From the airport, they took the reliquary to the Novospassky Monastery, where the clergy served a molieben at the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God. St Demetrios is the patron saint of…

Source: Urban Milwaukee Priest at famed Greek church claimed freedom of religion protected him from prosecution. By Michael Zahn Father James Dokos Jr., accused of stealing more than $100,000 from a trust fund, offered an unusual defense: that he was protected by the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion — an argument made by his trio of lawyers, including high-profile attorney Frank Gimbel. Sorry, said Circuit Judge M. Joseph Donald in a ruling yesterday: “The United States Supreme Court has previously observed that no person may ‘under the cloak of religion . . . commit frauds upon the public.’” So…

Source: Chicago Tribune By Lisa Black Prosecutor: Chicago Greek Orthodox bishop was warned not to intimidate witness in theft case against priest A high-ranking Greek Orthodox bishop in Chicago was warned by a prosecutor against “potential efforts to intimidate witnesses” in a case involving a priest accused of stealing more than $100,000 from a Milwaukee church. The warning came after another priest in Milwaukee told authorities that Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, the No. 2-ranking official in the Greek Orthodox faith in the Midwest, threatened in emails to remove him from his post if the church did not withdraw a theft…

Source: Ecumenical News by Miko Morelos and Peter Kenny The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has castigated the Greek-Catholic Church in Ukraine for being “divisive,” saying its stance puts at risk the improving of relations between Rome and Moscow. Patriarch Kirill at the same time singled out the Vatican for what he said is a measured tone in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. He pointed out that the Holy See had maintained its position on the resumption of peace talks instead of making “any lopsided assessments.” “Today, fresh conflicts in Ukraine in light of the latest political events in the country…